


A Mage’s Sense

by bealovelylady



Series: UshiHina Mini Fics [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fantasy, Fluff and Smut, Little bit of angst, M/M, Mages, Size Difference, Smut, Witches, appearance changes, 魔女集会で会いましょう
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 02:08:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15719742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bealovelylady/pseuds/bealovelylady
Summary: It was all good and well to simply ride past when adults were fighting in alleys, but it was another when a small child was being surrounded by angry adults with pans and belts and broken bottles.“Get outta here, demon!” screamed one ear-shattering voice, and the others echoed their assent. Hinata didn’t even take the time to asses the situation correctly. He steered his horse into a dead end alley and slid off its back before it came to a full stop. He set his pack down and pulled out his disappearing cloak, shrugging it over his shoulders in the darkness of the alley. Then he strode with purpose into the midst of the mob.





	A Mage’s Sense

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is really long, but I didn’t want to split it up, so here it is.
> 
> More UshiHina drabble because I adore them. 
> 
> This fic is based on the 魔女集会で会いましょう tag on Twitter, which if you don’t know is essentially about witches/mages raising small children who end up growing taller/bigger than them.

Hinata was just passing through. This village was just like every other. He set up his small booth at the market and peddled off his elixirs and potions, his salves and balms, with his hood pulled low over his brow to hide his fire red hair and the tattoo above his left eye that marked him as a wizard. People were interested in healing and magic potions, until they thought it was an actual mage selling them. Most of the time he had no troubles, though, since he learned quickly, and he’d been doing this for centuries now. 

There was one town that he passed through on his travels that always scared him a little. The people didn’t even know of magic; they were simply suspicious of everything. He made sure to affix his hat extra carefully and hold his hood down as he passed through. He never stopped here; people like this were mean and bitter and wouldn’t even glance his booth’s way at all, for distrust of the unknown. They didn’t take kindly to strangers in general. 

There were often fights happening in the alleys he passed, and he ignored them. It did no good to interfere between human squabbles. He would keep his eyes straight on the road and pull his hood to block his sight as his foal trod through the streets, his riding blanket hiding the mark on the right hip of the small horse that marked it as a being imbued with magic. His pack sat heavy on his back, and he rode silently.

It was all good and well to do this when adults were fighting in alleys, but it was another when a small child was being surrounded by angry adults with pans and belts and broken bottles. 

“Get outta here, demon!” screamed one ear-shattering voice, and the others echoed their assent. Hinata didn’t even take the time to asses the situation correctly. He steered his horse into a dead end alley and slid off its back before it came to a full stop. He set his pack down and pulled out his disappearing cloak, shrugging it over his shoulders in the darkness of the alley. Then he strode with purpose into the midst of the mob. 

He didn’t know what he meant to do, maybe just break up the fight, but he saw the problem as soon as the boy lifted his head. Small nubs peeked out from under his short cropped bangs, and his eyes were slightly different colors. For the rest, he looked normal, but the villagers were screaming at him, casting him out as if he were the devil himself. 

“I’m sure ya killed ya’r father, too! Ya’r mother died givin’ birth to ya! Ya’re an ill omen to us all! Go back to the mountains we banished ya to, and take ya’r evil witchya!”

With a flick of his wrist, Hinata froze time, and he stepped between the angry villagers and their brandished weapons. He combed his hair through the boy’s olive-brown locks, breaking the spell over him, and mismatched eyes glanced up at him, unseeing. He pulled the boy’s hand until he stood, a few feet shorter than Hinata, and he draped his cloak over the boy too.

“We’ve to go,” he whispered urgently, and their legs quickly ran them away from the crowd, still frozen. Hinata climbed onto his horse and pulled the boy up in front of him, removing his invisibility cloak from his own shoulders and wrapping the boy up in it. 

“It’s all right,” he whispered to the frozen-stiff frame and clicked his tongue, his horse neighing and backing out of the alley. They rode past the crowd and he snapped his fingers again, and the shrill cry of, “He’s disappeared, the demon child! Cleanse yourself from the evil of the demon!”

Hinata held the boy close to his chest as they rode fast and hard, his pack heavy again on his back, but the weight of the child before him even heavier. When they were safely outside the village’s limits, he pulled the hood of his cloak down and climbed off his horse. He put his hands against his horse’s mane, trying to decide where to go from here with the small child he’d effectively just kidnapped. Small eyes peered up at him, taking in his red hair as it peeked from beneath his hat, and the tattoo over his eye. Hinata took a closer look now at the boy himself. The nubs on his forehead were off-white and round like those of a baby goat. His left eye was a dark brown, while the other a lighter olive. It wasn’t very obvious until you got close enough, but Hinata found it beautiful to see. He’d only once met another person with mismatched eyes, another wizard like himself, who was born with nephylim blood in his veins, from his great-grandmother, who was the child of a fallen angel and a human. Hinata wondered if this child too, had other-worldly blood in his veins, but right now he mostly seemed an ordinary human. 

When the child seemed like it wouldn’t talk, he tilted his head and asked, “Do you have a home you wish to go back to? I can take you there.”

Fear and something incredibly lonely made the boy’s eyes go wide, and he slowly shook his head. He clenched at the coat over his shoulders until his knuckles turned white, and Hinata raised his hands to show it was okay. “My name is Hinata Shouyo. I don’t mean you any harm. Was it because of your eyes that the villagers mistreated you?”

The boy raised a shaky hand to press at his right nub, fingering it self-consciously. 

“Don’t worry, I know you’re not a demon’s child, or cursed. I’ve seen both, and you are definitely not one.” He shuddered to think of the twisted beings he’d met, cursed by witches or mages, the spawn of pure blood demons and a human. “I won’t harm you.”

“Tell me what your name is,” Hinata said, unconcerned with the silence from the other. 

“Ah,” the boy made a short sound, a hollow, toneless thing, and he suddenly flailed his arms around, eyes wide. Hinata watched him with concern, waited until he stilled enough for Hinata to comb a hand into his choppy locks and run the pad of his thumb over the shell of the boy’s ear. 

_He’s deaf_ , Hinata mused to himself. He doubted the boy had even understood a word he’d said. He though maybe it was a blessing that the child had never had to hear the insults hurled at him, that he’d never had to know he was being blamed for the deaths of his parents. 

He mumbled the spell words for Word Resonance, and when he spoke next, he knew his voice rang in the boy’s head. He clutched at his hair as his eyes went wide, and Hinata smiled.

“I mean you no harm.” He pressed a finger to his tattoo. “I’m a wizard. I cast a spell so you can hear my voice in your head.”

“Whizhad?” the boy asked tonelessly. His tongue seemed too thick for his mouth as he spoke. Hinata tilted his head and smiled a little wider, the sound endearing. 

“I do magic to help people. Like my cloak that makes you invisible, or this spell so you can hear my voice.”

The boy pressed a shaky hand to his forehead, eyes never leaving Hinata. 

“Do you have a name, little boy?”

“Nabe?” he asked, blinking. 

He wondered now if the boy would have even known what his name was if he couldn’t hear, but suddenly he waved his hands around in a flurry of hand signs. Letters? But it wasn’t anything he knew from actual sign languages, more like it was a dialect only he knew. Hinata would have to teach the boy how to speak using spells. An apprentice? He’d always wanted one...

At Hinata’s confused look, the boy croaked out, “Wachatoshi.”

Hinata repeated it, but the boy shook his hands, clenching his fists in frustration. 

“Wachatoji!”

He huffed when Hinata repeated it again, clenching at his hair as tears came to his eyes. 

“It dodn’t soun’ rihhh!” he yelled brokenly.

“Shh,” Hinata hushed, because the boy had no idea how loud his voice was, and he tried again. “Wakatoji?”

The boy shook his head, fat tears of frustration leaking down his reddened cheeks, but Hinata soothed a hand over his face. 

“Wachatoshi?”

“Ahh,” whimpered the boy. “Wahatoshi.”

“...Toshi.”

The boy went very still and he hummed low in his throat. 

“Is Toshi okay?”

“Oday,” he said with a thick voice, more tears in his eyes. “-Neber hea’d it befor.”

Hinata realized the boy had never heard his own name spoken before, in a voice he could hear. He signed more with his hands, Hinata trying to detect a pattern, but the boy calmed again when Hinata called out, “Toshi.”

They were silent for a moment until Hinata promised, “I’ll learn your full name, I swear.”

The boy nodded with tears in his eyes. 

“I’m Hinata Shouyo.”

“Hinaba?”

Hinata giggled at the attempt and grinned. “Yeah!”

The boy nodded and his face split into a proud grin, teeth missing and cheeks going round like a chipmunk’s, and something like pride unfurled in Hinata’s gut. “Hinaba!” he yelped loudly, and Hinata had to shush him again. 

“Do you have a home you’d like to go back to?” Hinata asked, and there it was again, that look of fear and great loneliness, and Hinata quickly shook his hands. “You can stay with me, if you’d like.”

“Stay!”

Hinata grinned again, nodding. “Okay. You can stay.” It was a good thing he only had one stop left, but he thought he could pass it up for this month. He’d sold enough in the other towns, and he thought it was probably more important to get Toshi somewhere safe.

He climbed back up onto the foal behind the small boy and pulled him to his chest. “We’ll be home soon,” he said as they set off, and Toshi hummed, “Hobe!”

x

Toshi was amazingly brilliant; he was soon reading and writing at the same level as Hinata, and he could cast basic spells. Hinata showed him a higher level spell that would make his own voice resonate inside his head when he spoke, and when he was far enough along to cast it, he did so all by himself. Everything he did, he insisted to do by his own power, which was equally frustrating and encouraging for Hinata to see. 

Soon he was talking normally, (and told Hinata his full name, though now the wizard was used to calling him Toshi) and Hinata almost missed his awkward tonal drawl. Next he took it upon himself to learn how to read lips and other languages. He was quickly gaining on Hinata’s knowledge and skills, and again, Hinata was conflicted.

And over the years, not just his mind was expanded, but his body also grew tall and thick. He went from a scrawny child two feet shorter than Hinata to a man, bulky and muscular, towering over the small wizard. A lot of things had changed about Toshi over the years, and Hinata was very conflicted. His horns had grown in nicely, sharp and about six inches long, straight up, curving back only slightly, like goat’s horns. Hinata had never really figured out why the boy had them, since there was no demon or angel blood in his body; he was human through and through. Along with his horns, his hair had also grown long. Hinata had cut it for him once, and both of them had sworn to never do that again, so after a trim from a more skilled witch friend of Hinata’s, he was letting it grow out long. The difference in his eye color grew a little less noticeable as the years went on, which Hinata found truly regrettable, but all in all, Ushijima Wakatoshi was growing into a very fine, fine man. 

When they travelled, Wakatoshi always stuck very close to Hinata, almost overly protective of the wizard. It wasn’t like Hinata hadn’t traveled these roads for centuries, he told Wakatoshi, but the man just shrugged his broad shoulders and ignored Hinata’s sass, calling him an old man. He used an easy cloaking spell to hide his horns and eyes, but even so, he never set foot in his hometown village. They travelled the long way around it now, through the woods, and sometimes Hinata would catch Toshi staring off into the trees, and he’d have to take the reins of Wakatoshi’s horse in his hands to guide the horse along when he slowed down due to lack of guidance, but he never pressured Toshi to explain. 

Toshi told him one day about a small log cabin in those woods, a meager home, but one he loved dearly for fond memories of growing up there with his father. But his father had died when he was six and he’d had to fend for himself, the fond memories quickly forgotten because of hunger and despair. He’d gone into town the day Hinata had found him like a ghost, just looking for a scrap of food to eat, never meaning to be found. But the villagers remembered him, spotted him as soon as he entered the village, and he’d been dragged to the center of town to be killed. He had understood suddenly why there was always fear in his father’s eyes when Toshi asked him questions about his mother and the town. 

That was all he said on the matter, and Hinata didn’t see the need to push him, but sometimes he would hear Wakatoshi cry out in his sleep, and he would wander sleepily to his room and pet his head until he fell back into a peaceful sleep, never knowing the other had ever been there at all. After a few years, the nightmares stopped completely, and Hinata sometimes awoke feeling lonely. 

x

“You’ll be eighteen soon,” Hinata said to Toshi one day as they sat together over their breakfast bowls. “What will you do?”

It was tradition for wizards and their apprentices to split off, pupils going off on their own once they reached the age of adulthood, to start up their own practice or shop. But with Wakatoshi, it felt different somehow, like Hinata hoped he wouldn’t leave. 

Toshi looked at him for a long while before finally asking, “Do I have to do anything?”

“No,” responded Hinata slowly, and a selfish part of him whispered, _Just don’t tell him._ He worried at his lips and cast his eyes aside, not seeing the way Wakatoshi intently watched him. 

_It would be selfish not to say anything. And besides, if he’s going to stay, I want it to be of his own volition._

So he sighed and turned back to his tall apprentice and said slowly, “It’s just that most apprentices leave their teacher’s shop when they turn 18 to venture out on their own. I thought maybe... that’s what you would do, as well.”

Toshi was silent for another long while, and Hinata felt the need to add, “It’s completely up to you.” He scraped the rest of his rice into his mouth and stood, not casting another glance at Toshi, walking his bowl and utensils to the sink. 

Before he could leave the common area, however, the other spoke up again. “Did you ask me because you want me to leave?” Hinata was too distraught to notice the way Wakatoshi’s voice faltered slightly and the downcast turn of his eyes. 

And when Hinata whispered, “Definitely not,” he missed the way Toshi’s cheeks dusted with pink.

A few days later, Wakatoshi came to him and said, “I’ll stay,” and Hinata felt his heart skip a beat, and he beamed widely up at his protege. Standing on a stool, he reached up and scruffed dark olive hair.

“Oh my, do you have a fever?” he asked worriedly when Wakatoshi’s cheeks went red, but the other just shook his head and turned away, busying himself at his own workbench, and Hinata shrugged it off.

x

It became harder and harder to shrug off and ignore. Hinata was sure he felt a pair of mismatched eyes on him more often now, and when they washed the dishes together or worked on a potion, the taller man stood closer than before. He lingered longer, his words softer, eyes shifting away slower. 

One day, a young woman showed up at their door, the doorbell ringing rusty from lack of use, and Hinata and Wakatoshi just stared at each other. No one had ever come to their door before. 

Toshi was the first to break from their frozen state, and he whispered, “I’ll get it.”

Hinata followed behind him, collecting magic potions as they went in case the intruder meant them harm, hiding behind Wakatoshi’s large body. 

The door creaked open with great protest and before them stood a beautiful girl, long dark hair and grey, almond-shaped eyes, and a beauty mark on her chin. 

“Oh. Hello,” spoke Wakatoshi. The girl went a little red, eyes wide, and she mumbled out a greeting.

“Isn’t there... a small wizard who lives here?” she asked carefully, glancing up at Wakatoshi’s tall body. 

“Can I ask, what business you have with the small wizard?” he asked as he brought a hand back to hold Hinata in place behind him. His hand felt hot against Hinata’s hip, concerningly so.

“I- my mother is dying and I heard the wizard can heal her. I’ve been warned to stay away, but no medicine or doctor has cured her, and it’s just her and I-“ Her voice dropped and she whispered, “I came to ask the great wizard who lives here for a miracle.”

Hinata took Wakatoshi’s hand off his hip and stepped forward, potions still cradled in his arm, and he smiled up at the lady. Her eyes flitted to him and she gasped out, “Oh, you’re cute! Are you the wizard’s son?”

Wakatoshi snickered above him and Hinata cast him an annoyed glance, the other glancing away as his cheeks went red. 

“I am... the wizard,” he said finally with a heavy sigh. “Why don’t you come in?” he asked as she bummed out an embarrassed, “Oh!”

Hinata stepped aside and Wakatoshi led her into their sitting room, which was strewn with books about magic and folklore, Wakatoshi’s little corner. The woman was only a bit taller than Hinata, but she looked perfect standing next to Toshi, and Hinata felt a pang in his heart. He rubbed at his chest and wondered if he was getting heartburn at his old age, and shuffled to the closest chair as Wakatoshi cleared off another for the girl, pulling it out for her to sit. His eyes flicked to Hinata’s and he went a little red, and now Hinata was sure he had heartburn. 

“Tell me your mother’s symptoms,” Hinata said when she was settled in, Wakatoshi remaining with his hands on the back of her chair, watching Hinata, and he thought it was unnerving. He focused on the woman, but every time his eyes drifted up, Toshi went a little red and glanced away, and Hinata had to bite back the nasty feeling bubbling up from his gut. 

“-She hasn’t been able to sleep at all because of the headaches, so-“

Hinata scraped his chair back loudly as he stood and declared, “That’s enough! I’ve got something for her,” and he shuffled off before he got too irritated. But wasn’t it natural? Wakatoshi was at that age, after all. He would notice girls. Hinata had gotten used to having the man’s undivided attention, but maybe it was just because he hadn’t ever met a woman his age. Hinata was just being selfish. He knew that one day Wakatoshi would want to leave the nest and start off on his own, and he should be happy if it was with such a sweet and beautiful girl. 

He was just sad because he didn’t want the other to leave. He’d never been lonely, but now that he knew companionship, he was sure he would know loneliness if his companion left. And he was scared to deal with that, especially at his age. He wrung his hands and sighed, because most of all he just wanted the boy to be happy. He deserved that much, at least, and Hinata refused to be the one to tie him up. His heart fluttered with sadness as he resigned himself to be lonely. 

He fetched a few vials and potions, a balm for her labored breathing and a smelling salt to help her sleep, and he packed them up into a cloth bag. Wakatoshi had moved to sit beside the girl, and when Hinata came down the stairs, he glanced away, cheeks flaring up again. Hinata sighed quietly and handed off the bag to Wakatoshi. “Why don’t you walk the young lady home, Ushijima.”

Toshi’s eyes went wide, but he nodded slowly, and stiffly walked the girl to the door; Hinata seeing them off, before shuffling back into his workshop. He draped a cloak over his shoulders to stave off the sadness and cold and stuck his nose into a book.

After some time, the door creaked open and Wakatoshi softly announced that the girl, Kiyoko, had made it home safe. Hinata could feel him stand there for a while, silent, and he thought of things to say without actually saying them, and then Toshi turned and walked away, softly shutting the door behind him. 

Hinata pulled his cloak closer around himself. 

That night, Wakatoshi had a nightmare again, and Hinata went to pet his head, and he cried. 

x

There was an excited knocking at the door, and Hinata silently shuffled to go answer it when they heard Kiyoko’s voice call out cheerfully for “Wizard-sama and Wakatoshi-kun!”

He opened the door with a flurry and was greeted by bright grey eyes and a cheerful smile. “Oh, Wizard-sama! My mother is completely healed! You’ve worked a miracle!”

Footsteps depressed the wood floors behind Hinata and he felt more than saw Wakatoshi’s presence, and the girl reached out to shake Hinata’s hand. “Thank you so much!” She shook Toshi’s hand as well, her touch lingering. Toshi glanced at Hinata and then cast his eyes down, cheeks going red, and the girl’s cheeks responded in return. 

“Well, I’m glad to hear it,” beamed Hinata, because he was, and this was fine. “If she ever falls ill again, let me know. Ushijima, why don’t you walk her home?”

He turned away as the girl whispered out an, “Oh my goodness, thank you so much!”, didn’t see the way Wakatoshi’s eyes followed him sadly. 

When Toshi returned, he found Hinata, once again curled up in a blanket and nose in a book, and after announcing that Kiyoko had made it home safely, he lingered once more.

But this time he spoke up. 

“Hinata, are you angry with me?”

Hinata jolted in his blanket cocoon, but he stayed silent. After a while, footsteps shuffled away, and loneliness gripped at his stomach. But it was all for the best, wasn’t it? It was better for him to suffer so Wakatoshi could leave with no regrets and be happy, than to continue on the way they had always been. 

Wakatoshi was wracked with nightmares every night after that.

x

There was a muffled scream and Hinata shot up out of his bed. He fumbled around the covers to untangle himself and padded quickly to the second bedroom, his robe clenched around himself, moving blindly in the dark without a misstep. 

Wakatoshi’s door was cracked open, and he could hear the man tossing and turning, crying out into his pillow. He silently slipped inside and came to stand beside the other’s bed. 

“Shh,” he whispered to the sleeping giant, reaching out a hand to wipe his forehead and push his hair back from his sticky cheeks, soothing his hair as he sang softly. Toshi whimpered quietly and fell silent, his body relaxing into the sheets. 

When Hinata thought he was fine, he turned, but a soft, toneless voice stopped him. “Hinada, are you angry with me?”

His heart dropped down to his feet and he froze. There was such a vulnerability to the man as he whispered those words into the silent night air, and Hinata clenched at his chest to keep from crying. 

“Hinaba, please... please don’d-“

He wiped his sweaty palms roughly on his robe and clenched it around his body, waiting nervously for Wakatoshi to finish. Silence fell around them and Hinata slowly turned back when it was too much. He pressed a hand to Toshi’s forehead and leaned in slowly. 

“I’m not angry, Toshi.” He inhaled the sleepy scent of the boy, who had grown so tall and so well, who he was so proud of. The boy who was like his own son, his greatest achievement in life, the one who deserved all the happiness in the world. “I could never be angry-“ _I’m so proud of you, Wakatoshi. You turned out so well. I want you to go and be happy with the person you like._

Hinata’s inner thoughts were so loud that he almost missed the softly whimpered, “Don’d leave...”

Hinata’s heart seized again and a small strangled noise left his lips. “Sorry, Toshi,” he whispered as he pressed a kiss between Wakatoshi’s horns, stood before he made a fool of himself. Every footstep was painful and heavy as he walked away. 

“Don’d leave, Hinaba-“ came a distressed cry, and it was all Hinata needed to turn around and rush back, crawling into bed with the giant and clutching him close. 

“I’m right here.”

He fell asleep to Wakatoshi’s soft sighs, tiny hands clenched into the fabric of his shirt. 

x

When Hinata woke up, he was alone in Toshi’s bed. He lay for a moment as sleep hovered over him, before he heard a clanging from downstairs and came to his senses. He jumped out of the bed and straightened his pjs, a blush burning as he realized that the other had woken up and seen Hinata in his bed, that he’d slept beside his apprentice last night.

He shuffled into his own room and changed his clothes, and then slowly made his way downstairs. 

Wakatoshi didn’t even look up when Hinata stepped into the kitchen. He just nodded towards the table and said kindly, “Breakfast is ready.”

It wasn’t awkward, because it was always mostly silent when they ate, but Hinata was uncomfortable. He didn’t know what to do; should he apologize or explain himself?

But Toshi was the first to speak on the matter, setting his empty bowl down and looking over at the elder wizard. “I had a nightmare again last night, didn’t I?”

Hinata swallowed and nodded. 

“Did I do anything untoward?” he asked with that same serious manner he always spoke in. 

“No, of course not! It was my choice to-“ He halted there and choked a little on his embarrassment.

But Toshi just nodded and said quietly, “I’m glad I didn’t act on my desires.” He stood and moved to the kitchen before Hinata could fully grasp his words, but when he did, he shot upright, his chair clattering to the floor behind him. His whole face went red.

By the time he recovered, Wakatoshi had already made his way to their work room, and Hinata stomped after him. 

“Explain what you just said-!” he cried as he burst through the door. Wakatoshi put down his spell book and turned to the other. 

“Would you really like me to?” he asked slowly. “What if you don’t like what I’ve to say?”

“I deserve the right to know! Don’t I?” He was going redder by the minute.

Toshi nodded. He stepped towards Hinata and took his hands in his own, larger ones, and with a straight face he said, “I am in love with you, Hinata.”

Hinata went pale and he looked down at their connected hands. He squeezed Wakatoshi’s in disbelief as he blinked. Then he glanced up and laughed a little maniacally. “Good one!”

“It’s not a joke.”

Hinata smacked his palm hard across Toshi’s arm like he could smack sense into him and said again, too loud for the small room, “I’m more than 200 years older than you!”

“Yup,” was Toshi’s only response, because of course he knew this.

“It’s just imprinting!”

“It’s not.”

“It’s idolization!”

“It’s not.”

“Then it’s a complex!”

“Definitely not.”

Sputtering and out of excuses, Hinata coughed out, “It’s just your imagination.”

“I must have a very vivid imagination if I’ve felt this way for more than 6 years.” He grabbed at Hinata’s escaped hand and held it again. “I’ll give you time, but my feelings will never change.”

“I don’t need time! You’re a child! You’re like my son! This is absurd!”

Wakatoshi slowly nodded and let go of Hinata’s hands. “I see,” he whispered like he’d just discovered a new potion recipe. 

“And what about the girl?!” Hinata yelped our suddenly. 

Wakatoshi just blinked at him. “What about her?”

“You were blushing and embarrassed when she came around!”

“That was because of you.”

“No, no-! Definitely...” But his words trailed off as he thought about the way Wakatoshi would go a little pink in the cheeks when it was just the two of them. “Definitely not...”

“It’s always been because of you, Hinata.”

“I-“ Hinata bit at his lip and fumbled with his hands. “I’ve kept you away from others for too long. You’re just a human to begin with. Maybe you should go on a little journey and discover what you want to do with your own life instead of me deciding it for you.”

Wakatoshi paused and said, “Are you sending me away?”

Hinata turned his face away and bit back his tears. “I think it would be best.” He didn’t want to be lonely, but these feelings Toshi thought he had weren’t... true. “I think you’ll discover there’s a lot for you to love beyond these four walls.”

Toshi slowly bowed his head and whispered out an, “All right.” It was the most heartbreaking thing Hinata had ever heard, but he had to do what was best for the other. 

A few hours later, Wakatoshi had his bags packed and he stood at the front door. Hinata had to press his fingernails into his palm to keep from crying, and Ushijima bent down on one knee as Hinata reached over to pat his head. 

“Your horns have grown in well. Remember, you don’t have to hide them, but you know the spell if you wish to.”

“I’ll show them proudly. They are the sign that you cared for me well.”

“Be good. Always help those in need if you can. I’ll always be here, but don’t use it as an excuse not to try your hardest on your own.”

“I’ll come back one day as a man you can be proud of.”

Hinata shook his head softly. “You’re already a man I’m so proud of.”

Toshi didn’t skip a beat as he whispered out, “Then I’ll come back as a man you can love.”

Hinata’s hand dropped from Toshi’s silky long locks and he folded them together in front of himself, trying to ignore the tremble in them. Wakatoshi stood slowly, and Hinata could feel his eyes on him. 

“I’ll be off then.”

“Yup. Be safe.”

And with that, the only companion Hinata had ever known left his sight. He wrapped his arms around himself and sat down by the front door to cry. 

x

The months dragged by so slowly. The tree trunk house became unbearably quiet and too large for just one wizard. 

He missed Wakatoshi. He missed his friendship, his companionship. Journeys were lonely, but coming home was even lonelier. 

Months turned to years. He heard whisperings of a handsome man, a great potion maker, and he prayed that it was Wakatoshi, but he hadn’t heard anything from the other. Maybe it was best if he’d been forgotten. Maybe Wakatoshi had his own family by now. 

Soon three years had passed, the longest three years for a wizard who’d lived more than 200 by now. The rumors of a powerful human wizard became more and more prevalent. 

His heart ached. He truly missed Wakatoshi. He was beginning to forget the man’s voice, his smell. He got a dog but it wasn’t the same. He was still so lonely, lonely all the time. The smile he showed as he sold his potions was fake, so fake. 

If he could just see Toshi again...

x

One day, there was a rapid knocking on the front door of the large tree. Hinata stumbled out of his work room in his slippers and robe, his hair like a bird’s nest, and hurried to the door. He swung it open wildly and blinked up at the blinding blue sky. 

“Umm-!” called a feminine voice from below his line of sight, and he dropped his eyes when he realized he’d looked up too high out of hope and expectation. The girl with black hair and the beauty mark stood on his front step. 

“What is it, dear?” he said, trying not to let his disappointment show. 

“Well, I’d heard rumors of Wakatoshi being in town, so I thought he’d come home.” Her eyes were wide and hopeful. 

“I haven’t seen him in five years,” was all Hinata could manage to say. Tears burned in the back of his eyes and his throat closed up a little. “He hasn’t even set foot in this town since then, so I’m sure it’s someone else-“

“Ahh, but my Mamma said she saw him with her own eyes!”

Hinata blinked at the beautiful girl. What was her name again? 

“She said he was staying at the inn in town! You see, she’s been seeing the innkeeper! She said his horns have gotten longer and his hair too, but his eyes were still the same mismatched-“

He never heard what else she was going to say. He grabbed his coat, stepped into his rain boots, and rushed past her. His pants grew muddy from the puddles he splashed through, but he didn’t slow down. He ran all the way to town, to the inn. 

A crowd was gathered around the front door, and he couldn’t even sneak through it to get inside. Everyone was densely packed together, squabbling excitedly. 

“Excuse me-“

“If you’re here to see him, get in line!” huffed an older woman.

“Him?” he asked, and another girl spoke up in a squeaky voice. 

“The doctor! It’s said he can preform miracles, and he’s handsome to boot!”

“And single!” chirped a third girl. 

Hinata looked around at the sea of women and blinked slowly, stepping back as he hugged his ratty old coat around his body. 

Something tugged at his sleeve and he turned, the black haired girl pulling him back towards a side alley. “You’ll never get through there,” she told him as he stumbled after her. Her black hair fluttered in the wind. 

“Mamma!” she yelled as they stopped at a side entrance, pounding on the heavy wooden door. “Mamma, it’s Kiyoko!”

The door creaked open and a woman who looked like an older version of the girl at his elbow smiled at her daughter. 

“Mamma! I’ve brought him!”

Dark eyes glanced his way and recognition sparked in her face. “Ahh, you’re the wizard who-!” She quickly stepped aside and motioned them inside. “I owe you my life, so this is the least I can do,” she whispered as she guided Hinata along the back storeroom and kitchen. They came into a reception area, and the din of a large crowd grew louder. Kiyoko’s mother stopped there and nodded towards the open area. There were tables scattered around, crowded with people, but one table was fairly open, just two people sitting there. The person facing him was an older man who held a bloody handkerchief in his hand, eyes closed as the other person examined him. 

The other, in a white long coat, sat facing away, but even after all these years, Hinata would know that long hair and broad back anywhere. He clutched at his mouth as he released a shuddered gasp, and stared at the back of the head. 

“He’s a doctor now! He uses herbs to make medicines, and he’s become so successful! Very few know that his roots are in wizardry; they just think he’s a brilliant herbalist. And of course his face and bachelor status help.” Kiyoko’s mother explained to him, but Hinata heard it all like there was wool in his ears. He couldn’t remember how to breathe properly, didn’t know if he was standing on his own or leaning against Kiyoko. 

Suddenly, the doctor straightened up and glanced around. He paused and then turned carefully around in his chair, his eyes slowly making their way around to where Hinata stood, and the small redhead gasped as first his profile and then his full face came into view. For a barest moment, their eyes locked, and then Hinata turned away in shame and ran out the back door again, ran all the way home, coat collar pulled up around his head as shame hit him like a train wagon. 

His Wakatoshi had grown into a fine man, the finest, and he had become a decrepit old wizard who couldn’t even match his clothes or comb his hair. He clutched his coat to his chest and was so glad he’d gotten a glimpse, knowing now that sending Wakatoshi away had been the best choice after all, for Wakatoshi. 

Knowing now that he had fallen in love with someone who was once right by his side, and now completely unobtainable. 

Knowing he would do everything all over again just for the swell of pride at what an amazing man Ushijima Wakatoshi had become. That small boy who’d been called a demon, who was deaf and malnourished, was now the talk of entire towns. 

He was proud. 

Proud and lonely. 

x

He ignored the knocking at the door. Kiyoko came to bring him food and stories of Wakatoshi, but he couldn’t hear them, not yet, because it still hurt to think of the man being so close by, Hinata alone with his newfound feelings. He would shuffle downstairs after the girl had left, bring in her casserole dish and eat it as he placed her letter on the stack of all her other letters, unopened, untouched. 

Today, too, he ignored the knocking. There was a long moment of silence, and Hinata thought it was almost safe to go retrieve his dinner when a loud voice boomed out, “This won’t do at all. What a pig sty...”

He fell out of his chair and scuttled across the floor, slamming the door to his work room closed, the sound echoing through the whole house. Footsteps came down the hall and stopped in front of the door he sat against. 

“Hinata.”

His voice was deeper, quieter, but Hinata knew it, and it stirred something up in his chest. Why was he back? 

“Are you hiding because you’re as much of a mess as the house?”

Hinata hugged his large sweater around his small frame and was thankful for the bath he’d taken last night, for combing out his hair and putting on actual clothes this morning. But he still didn’t open the door or answer. 

The wood shifted beyond the door and there was a small sigh. 

“I’ve so much to tell you, Hinata.”

He buried his face into his knees and hugged his legs, the voice so warm and familiar and kind. 

“Hinata. I want to tell you face to face how I feel.”

Silence settled over him after that, cold and mean after the warmth of Wakatoshi’s voice. The other hadn’t left. He was still there, on the other side of the door. Hinata ached to see him. 

Slowly, he opened the door, on his hands and knees, eyes cast to the side. He sat back on his feet and looked down at his lap. When he finally looked up, Wakatoshi was waiting expectantly, his eyes warm and smile soft. Hinata choked back a sob at the sight of him. He sat back against the wall, arms on his upright legs, wearing a nice shirt and pants, an expensive-looking coat, half of his hair loosely tied back, his horns taller and whiter. And his face; he’d grown so much in five years. He was so handsome that it hurt to breathe while looking at him. His eyes sparkled and his smile was warmer than the sun, and he looked so familiar, just like the boy he’d always known, and so like a man he didn’t know at all but really wanted to. 

“You’ve grown,” were his first words, but he quickly shook his head, because that wasn’t right. He clutched at his chest and whispered out hoarsely, “Welcome home, Toshi.”

“I’m home, Hinata,” Wakatoshi responded, and then he surged forward and grabbed Hinata up in his arms. 

He was frozen stiff for a moment, but then he clenched his fists into Wakatoshi’s coat and began sobbing. He pet his hand over Wakatoshi’s head and cried. 

A nose nuzzled into his neck and strong arms pulled him closer. “Please don’t cry,” Wakatoshi murmured.

“But I’ve missed you! You- you’ve grown up so well, just like I’d always hoped you would. I’m so proud of you, but I feel like I don’t know you at all anymore.”

“I’m still the same boy you raised. It’s just that I’ve become a man now.”

“You really did your best, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I did my best so you would be proud.”

“Didn’t I tell you I was always proud of you?”

“Then so you’d fall in love.”

Hinata pulled back with a wet face and red eyes. “Are you still on about that?” he whispered roughly. 

“Yeah.”

“Didn’t I tell you to find someone to fall in love with?”

“I did. Every day that passed, I fell more in love with them. There wasn’t a moment they weren’t on my mind. The distance only made me love them more...”

Hinata swallowed. “Then why aren’t you with them now?”

Wakatoshi’s face went all soft and he husked out, “But I am.”

“...And you kept your promise, too.”

“What’s that?” Wakatoshi blinked. Hinata’s face was so warm now.

“You became a man I’d fall in love with.”

“...Really?” Wakatoshi whispered in disbelief.

“Yeah. But you also became a man I don’t deserve.” Hinata dropped his hands from Toshi’s shoulders and sat back, his eyes cast down again. “But I don’t regret anything. I’m so proud of you, and I’ll love you until I die, but I’m okay with just that. It’s enough for me to see the great man you’ve become.”

He nodded slowly, but a low, rough voice stopped his smile in its tracks. 

“It’s not enough for me. It’s not nearly enough. I would rather have you-“ Hinata’s eyes jumped up the Wakatoshi’s face, wide with disbelief. 

“I didn’t become who I am to live my life without you. I became this man for you, and without you, it’s meaningless. I’d trade it all for a quiet life with you, Hinata. Don’t you get that yet? I did what you told me to do, I always did my best, because I wanted to one day come back to your arms, to your heart.

“You’re the only thing that’s worth anything to me, Hinata.”

Hinata was crying again, though he didn’t even notice it, until Wakatoshi reached forward and wiped his tears away. 

“I love you, Hinata. I’ve loved you consistently for 11 years. I will never stop.”

“I won’t let you give everything up,” Hinata said with resolution. Then he reached up and clenched at the sleeve of Wakatoshi’s coat. “But I won’t let you give me up either.”

The taller man breathed out a great sigh of relief and then he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Hinata’s, closing his eyes as Hinata melted against him. Strong arms closed around him and pulled him into Wakatoshi’s lap, and he pressed a gentle hand against a cheek, the other lacing into soft, long hair, their lips never parting. 

Wakatoshi pulled only a few centimeters apart to breathe out Hinata’s name. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” His small hand tightened on Wakatoshi’s hair, and he pulled him back for another long kiss. Lips molded together and tongues slid over each other in a romantic tango. 

Hinata wasn’t lonely anymore.

x

Somehow they had separated themselves enough to eat dinner and take baths, and now Hinata sat on Wakatoshi’s bed in one of his shirts and not much else, anxious beyond belief as he waited for the other to finish his bath. He changed his mind twenty times and changed it again 21 more, nerves making his palms so sweaty he couldn’t believe it, and he wondered if he was the oldest virgin ever to live, and if Wakatoshi had any experience either. 

The door creaked open softly and then shut again, and the low lamplight cast an attractive glow over Wakatoshi’s skin. He stepped forward and let his robe fall off his shoulders, and Hinata felt sure that he definitely didn’t deserve this man at all. 

“Are you sure you want an old guy like me?” he asked softly, more for reassurance than thinking the other would change his mind. Wakatoshi smiled and cocked his head. 

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. And besides, you don’t look your age at all.”

“If anything, you look older than me,” Hinata tried to joke past the rapid hammering of his heart and the way his head felt too warm. 

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Wakatoshi responded with a brilliant smile, and Hinata had to look away. He peeked from the corner of his eye at the man before him as his cheeks went bright red, his blush traveling down his chest and he was sure the freckles on his shoulders and cheeks were perfectly visible now. 

Wakatoshi had grown a little taller and wider, too. His body was beautifully developed, muscles lean and tight beneath his bronzed skin, and Hinata was so incredibly attracted to him that it was ridiculous. He didn’t want to take off his own clothes; underneath this shirt he was slim and bony, no curves or muscles in sight, just pale skin and freckles and awkward energy. 

“I really don’t deserve you,” he breathed out slowly, and Wakatoshi stepped forward. Hinata scooted back and Toshi slid to the bed in front of him, legs spread out and cupping Hinata’s own. The man was incredibly close, and the low light made his eyes look darker than normal. Hinata gathered his courage to reach out and rest a hand atop Wakatoshi’s chest, to sit up on his knees so he was closer and whispered out, “You’re incredibly beautiful.

“Tell me why you love someone like me again?” he said with an awkward chuckle, casting his eyes aside. Wakatoshi was quick to cup his face and bring his eyes back up. 

“You’re perfect, Hinata. The things you think of as flaws are anything but; they’re endearing and make you unique. I love everything about you, down to your freckles and every bone in your body. I could never love anyone even half as much as I love you.”

“If you’re sure,” Hinata whispered even as he closed his arms around Wakatoshi’s neck and fell forward against his chest. “Though I’m sure I love you many times more than that.”

Wakatoshi chuckled. “That’s impossible, since I love you the most.”

And Hinata pressed his face into Wakatoshi’s neck and whispered, “Yeah.”

x

Waking up now and finding Toshi beside him was still embarrassing, but for a completely different reason. His limbs were tangled in with the other’s, and when Hinata cracked his eyes open, he found Wakatoshi leaning on an elbow, just watching the redhead. 

“Hmm?” he croaked out in confusion as he winced at the bright light filtering through the windows. 

“Good morning, cuteness,” Toshi whispered from above him. 

He groaned at the early morning and nuzzled into Toshi’s broad chest, inhaling his scent and fisting at his bare back. “Don’t look at me,” he mumbled.

“Sorry, but you’re too cute. I couldn’t appreciate your sleeping face last time.”

Hinata blushed to remember it. He scooted closer to Wakatoshi, and the other wrapped his free hand around his small body. 

The years they’d spent apart seemed to fade easily as they filled their days now with being together. Wakatoshi loved to pamper Hinata, almost frustratingly so, and could spend hours tracing maps and designs into the freckles on his back, spend forever kissing his pale skin and beauty marks. He claimed he had yet to find any flaw with the redhead. 

And Hinata became surprisingly used to being hugged from behind and kissed at random, got used to “just because” and compliments that turned him redder than a tomato. He would never admit it aloud, but he loved this. He loved the way he’d catch Wakatoshi watching him sometimes, the way he called “Shouyo,” so softly as they climbed into bed. He loved the way he fit perfectly against Wakatoshi, how the other could cocoon him with his big body. He loved his warmth and his gentleness, and he wondered what he’d done to deserve someone so amazing. Hinata was hard-pressed to find any flaws with Wakatoshi as well.

Mornings and evenings became his favorite thing; going to sleep with Wakatoshi or waking up in his arms. Sometimes Wakatoshi would just hold him, and other times he would pepper him with kisses until Hinata woke up fully and kissed him back. But today he was still, just holding him gently. Hinata stretched in his arms and looked up at him, and there was a barely contained heat behind his eyes. 

A small hand pressed against Toshi’s cheek as Hinata whispered, “What’s wrong?”

The other was silent for a long while, his jaw working over a difficult answer, and finally he breathed out a heavy sigh of, “Shouyo...”

Hinata felt the heat and weight of his name low in his gut, and something came to life in response to it, causing him to gasp. A thigh pressed between his legs and the slightest movement caused a tremor in his body. “Toshi, what~? Mmm...”

“Shouyo,” the other repeated in that same low voice. “I want you.”

Hinata blinked up at Toshi and thought better of quickly responding affirmatively. Because he meant... sexually, didn’t he? 

He’d known this was coming. He’d seen it in the long stares and the slow kisses, felt it in the way Toshi’s body heated up when Hinata touched him. Slowly he nodded and whispered, “Okay.”

There was no need for him to say it, but Toshi whispered, “I’ll be gentle,” anyways. He carefully pulled Hinata up and sealed his lips with his own. His skin burned hot, sending tingles over his lips. Whatever had unfurled in his gut quickly roared to life and Hinata pressed deeper, pulled his arms tighter, whimpering for Wakatoshi to do the same. 

And he did. With a small gasp of surprise and pleasure, he tilted his head and licked into Hinata’s mouth, pulled the other’s body tight against his own, quickly working to shed off the pj shorts and boxers Hinata wore to bed. Under the blankets, everything was warm over Hinata’s bare skin, and he shivered and whimpered when Toshi coasted fingertips over his bare ass. 

Wakatoshi’s thigh pressed more urgently against Hinata’s crotch, and as they continued to kiss, heat growing exponentially, Hinata rocked his hips against Toshi’s leg, whimpering and desperate for more. His eyes flicked open and he was met head on with Toshi’s heated gaze, and with his eyes, he begged, “Touch me, please.”

A large hand wrapped around his cock, the other arm cupping his waist, and Hinata’s eyes fluttered closed as he licked over Toshi’s tongue in approval. He rolled his hips into the touch, and Wakatoshi made a small noise in his throat as he kissed Hinata back, began to move his hand. 

At some point Hinata tossed his head back and squeaked out a noise that stretched his register, and Toshi breathed heavy over his chest. Like going underwater, he took a deep breath and dove under the covers, holding Hinata’s small body in place. Warm lips closed around Hinata’s erection and he shrieked as he gripped at Toshi’s long hair. 

Grabbing onto a horn, he began bucking his hips forward, thrusting into Toshi’s mouth as moans and half-words slipped broken past his lips. The heat was building under the blankets and he was so close. His eyelids stuttered closed and he cried out Toshi’s name. A tongue lapped over his spent cock and Toshi resurfaced with a wild grin on his face, licking at his lips like he’d just had the tastiest treat. 

“Ohh...” shuddered Hinata, surprises to see the expression, cupping Wakatoshi’s face for a kiss. Toshi eagerly opened his lips to deepen the kiss and Hinata was back in his strong arms. 

“What about you?” Hinata mumbled as he felt something hot and hard press against his thighs. 

Wakatoshi leaned back and watched Hinata with uncertain eyes. He cupped Hinata’s ass and ran a slow finger over the curve of his cheeks. “We don’t have to, today...” he whispered softly, unsure, but Hinata quickly sat up and ditched his shirt. He beckoned Toshi forward for another kiss. 

“I have something...” Wakatoshi mumbled as he pulled back, and then he darted off, out of the room, coming back a few minutes later with a small ornate jar in his hand. It looked like something they might have put hand cream in for rich people, and he held it gingerly in his large hands. He stood before Hinata, casting glances from the small container to Hinata. 

“I think... it will help, if you’re okay to continue.”

Hinata took it gingerly from his hands and lifted the lid to smell the contents of the pot. A strong scent of rose and sandalwood wafted up to his nose, heat flaring from the top of his skull to his neck. 

“An aphrodisiac cream?” he asked with hooded lids up at his tall mate, and the other slowly nodded, fidgeting with his fingers. It was almost adorable to see the fully confident and large man so unsure of himself. He shifted the ornate pot to one hand and grasped at Ushijima’s fingers with his other. Olive mismatched eyes met his own and he smiled. 

“You’re so thoughtful,” he whispered. “I would have done it even without...”

Wakatoshi’s cheeks pinked and he nodded. He grasped at Hinata’s hand and removed his pants with his other, his movements quick, and he eagerly crawled back into bed with his small lover, pulling him up for another heated kiss. 

Hinata handed the pot back to him and Toshi set it aside, laying Hinata down over their blankets. He opened the lid and dipped his hand in, cupping out a generous amount of the white cream, and began spreading it over Hinata’s skin like a massage. 

Brown eyes closed slowly and he hummed as heat and desire wrapped around him like a blanket. Everything felt out of body, as he was pulled back up and into Wakatoshi’s lap, and fingers pressed between his butt cheeks and at his hole. He clutched at Toshi’s neck as one entered, ecstasy traveling up his spine as he moaned, a high, beautiful sound, and Toshi kissed at his neck. 

Wakatoshi’s fingers in his ass made Hinata’s body writhe and dance in the other’s lap, and Wakatoshi whispered how beautiful he was as he held him gently. 

Hinata dragged hands over the leftover cream on his chest and reached forward to grasp Toshi’s erection. The other gasped as Hinata whispered hotly, “Come on, big boy. I’m ready for you.”

Toshi scissored his fingers once more, drawing then out opened like that, and then he quickly pulled Hinata’s hips towards him, pressed the head of his swollen cock against Hinata’s greedy hole. 

He slowly sank inside, stretching the other wide and filling him so completely that Hinata forgot how to breathe for a minute. He gasped when Wakatoshi halted and massaged at his throat, kissing his cheek, reminding him to breathe, and he thought maybe Toshi had reached his end, but after a moment he kept pressing deeper inside. Hinata wondered if he might break and thought it was a wonderful way to go, and he screamed silently when Toshi thrust the last part of himself fully inside. 

They sat frozen for a while, both just taking in the fact of being joined. Hinata broke the silence first with a small whispered sound of surprise, and then he took Toshi’s face in his hands and smiled so broadly that Wakatoshi blushed at the sight. 

“Oh~!” crooned Hinata as Toshi twitched inside him. He shifted his hips and closed his eyes as even the minor movement caused Toshi to shift inside him and send pleasure up his spine, and he moaned and fell against Toshi’s shoulder. 

He pulled Toshi down with him and connected their lips, slow heat and hungry desire, little nips and long kisses. Everything he felt, he wanted to communicate to Wakatoshi; his love, his longing, his happiness. And Toshi gave the same feelings back to him as he hugged Hinata close and kissed him breathless. 

Hinata drew back and traced the lines of Wakatoshi’s face. He combed his silky hair and ran a finger over the curve of his horns, cocked his head as he smiled. He ran his thumb over thick but neat eyebrows, a high cheekbone, a well-sculpted nose, and the Cupid’s bow of his lips. Every part of him was so precious and dear, so beautiful. His eyes were soft as they watched Hinata and he felt so much love and pride. 

“I love you, Wakatoshi. I adore you so madly. You’re everything to me, my whole world.” He reached a hand back and caressed over where they were connected. “And now we’re one.”

Toshi shivered, but his hot gaze never left Hinata. He shifted his hips and Hinata gasped loudly. “Sorry-!”

But Hinata broke out in a wide smile and chuckled. “Nn, it’s just that you’re so damn big, Toshi.”

He reached forward again and clutched at broad shoulders. His eyelids flitted as he breathed out, “And I love it so damn much.”

It felt like every inch of his insides was filled to the brim with Toshi. He was stretched out to his limit, but there was no pain, only fullness. He squeezed experimentally around Toshi to gauge his size, and the other moaned loudly. Brown eyes darted up to Wakatoshi and he did it again. 

“Fu- _Shouyo_ ,” he hissed, and Hinata grinned cheekily. “If you don’t let me move soon,” he threatened softly, no venom behind his words, only urgency, and Hinata nodded as he rolled his hips. There was so much of Toshi that there was barely any movement, but it was enough to stir the other up, as Hinata tightened his walls again. The shape of Wakatoshi was being imprinted in his body and mind. 

Ushijima cradled him in his arms and laid him down against the bed once more. He hovered over Hinata, like a lion over his prey, and he began to thrust, in and out, slow at first until Hinata showed no resistance, and he began to move with more speed. 

Every thrust in sent Hinata’s head spinning, every pull out ripping a pleasured cry from his throat, and he dug his nails into Wakatoshi’s thick arms. He clenched his legs around Toshi’s waist, and with every thrust back, he begged for more, harder. Toshi’s hands tightened into the sheets by his head as he rammed Hinata, fucked his hard and fast into the mattress, and the redhead screamed with pleasure. 

At some point, Toshi’s hips faltered and he gently manhandled Hinata onto his side. He grabbed his leg, pressed it against his chest as he started up again. The different angle made Hinata scream, his eyesight going white as he came hard over the sheets, but Wakatoshi wasn’t done with him yet. He flipped him over again, chest facing the mattress, a little tougher this time in his blinding need, pulled Hinata’s hips up so that his legs dangled down, his feet barely touching the mattress as Wakatoshi rose up on his knees, and Hinata could do nothing but clutch at the pillow his face was smooshed into and sob. 

The cream was working wonders, and Hinata could barely breathe, but he didn’t want it to stop. It felt incredibly amazing. His oversensitive cock swelled up for the third time and his hole was abused and stretched out, but he wanted more, more. 

Wakatoshi’s hips snapped forward, and with a low, deep groan, a toneless moan, he came inside Hinata. Hinata shivered as his cock pulsed hot and heavy inside him, warm liquid flowing down his walls, and his body spasmed on a dry orgasm. 

He collapsed away from Toshi onto the bed, full and overcome by a sense of pure bliss, and Wakatoshi pressed up behind him, nuzzled into his neck. His cock pressed between Hinata’s thighs as he slowly grew softer again, and Hinata marveled that even flaccid, Wakatoshi was large. Despite how wrecked he felt, it filled him with a swell of pride and longing to think that his boyfriend was well-blessed in that area. Well, in most areas actually. 

“You did so good,” murmured Toshi against his back, kissing at his shoulder and neck. “I was worried...”

Hinata giggled and tried to turn to face Wakatoshi, but his body wouldn’t move. The other helped him, and he cupped Toshi’s red face. “Isn’t it amazing that someone as small as me is loved and fully wrecked by someone as big as you?” His eyes shone and his smile didn’t falter, and Wakatoshi realized how much Hinata had truly enjoyed it, truly loved him. 

“I’m glad...”

“I don’t break so easily,” Hinata chastised with a smile, and Toshi nodded. 

“You’re amazing.”

“You are!” 

“You’re incredible and wonderful,” Toshi whispered as he nuzzled into a mop of soft orange curls.

“You are as well,” Hinata breathed back.

“I love you, Shouyo.”

Silence fell as Hinata was left speechless. It’s not like he’d never heard the words before, but Toshi’s voice was unbelievably soft and warm, so full of pride and love and no hint of shame or embarrassment in sight. 

Wakatoshi nuzzled further in, and his voice grew husky. “I- I love you so much. Everything about you. Thank you; for saving me, for loving me, for showing me my value. Thank you for always doing your best with me and loving me despite my flaws. Thank you for letting me become a man worthy of you, and thank you for... for letting me- inside.” His voice broke there and something wet and hot dripped onto Hinata’s shoulder. He clutched Wakatoshi close and kissed at his ear. 

“Hey, listen,” he whispered after a long moment, and he tugged Toshi back a little so he could see his face. He wiped his tears and cupped his face, smiling. “I’d be a fool not to love you, not to let you make love to me. You’re beautiful, you’re talented, you’re so wonderful. You left me as someone I could never selfishly desire and came back as someone I could never hope to be worthy of. But I love you. I won’t let you go anymore. You’re so amazing, Wakatoshi. I love everything about you.”

He combed his hair and caressed his horns, smoothed a palm over his face and travelled it down his neck and over his broad shoulders. He shivered as he traversed the rise and fall of his muscled arms and skated his fingers down the rugged terrain of his abs. He ran a hand over his hip bone and up his back, locked his hand in place against Toshi’s pec as he pulled him close, coursed his hand up his back and over the nape of his neck and his shoulder blades. He shifted his legs, twisting them around developed calves and thick thighs, rested one between Toshi’s legs and the other atop it, and rolled his hip into his crotch. His hands curled into long, silky hair and he breathed out, hot and low and full of barely-contained lust, “I love everything about you.”

Large hands roughed up his sides, one traveling up his back and the other down over the curve of his ass and his leg draped over Toshi’s hip, and the other man breathed out, “Me, too. You’re perfection.”

Their lips met in a slow, dazed kiss, and Hinata thought he would never know a happiness as big or all-encompassing as the love he and Wakatoshi shared.

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of fun with this, and the sex scene at the end was completely gratuitous in my part, but there you have it. 
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated, and as always, you can hit me up on tumbler @ bealovelylady <3


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